Say What?

I noticed the date on my watch a few days ago and realized it was the anniversary of my father's passing: September 15th, 1995 — 29 years ago. The date usually gets away each year without me noticing. Although my father and I were very much alike (I'm told), we didn't share a strong bond. Alcohol got the better of him later in life, leaving most of our visits in his last 10 years disappointing for me.  I was relieved for him when he died six weeks shy of his 70th birthday and three weeks shy of the verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. He was fixated on the trial for most of the last year of his life, confined to an easy chair in the living room and tethered to an oxygen machine to help manage his emphysema. I sometimes wonder what my dad would have thought of our politics today. He spent his career in finance and subscribed to The Wall Street Journal, so I considered him a conservative, but he mainly was a cynic of all politicians. He had much disdain for Nixon. I reme

Oscar and Rudy continue to dominate our home life with their antics and love. They've been with us for nine weeks (today!), and they're thriving in their new environment. A few days ago, I saw a meme that said, "Treat your rescue pup so well that they forget about the abuse they suffered in their previous home." And that's precisely what we're doing. They appear to be responding to their new names, and we're still working on potty training, which has been more difficult for them. We'll get there.  Today marks nine years since I retired. September 3rd, 2015, was the most emotion-filled day of my life for several reasons. Last Friday, we met Rachel, Drew, Cliff, and Drew's mother, Jenny, at the state fair. We couldn't have picked a better day weather-wise, but with that nice weather came record-breaking crowds! We had to skip a few longer lines because they were more than an hour long, and whatever awaited us at the end of the line wasn't wo

Last week was a week that I'd love to live over again. We dropped the pups off at Puppy Play & Stay and then drove up to Duluth for a few days away to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We had such a nice time, but we did worry about our boys at the boarding kennel and hoped they were doing okay. Given their history, we were concerned that they would feel abandoned again, and that thought kept us checking our phones for the video feed from the facility to see how they were doing. This screenshot shows them both on the yellow and blue stairs, keeping watch over the others. They did well, but the staff told us Rudy was shy and stayed beside Oscar when he wasn't alone. Visit our home sometime, and you'll not find a shy Rudy! On our recent trip to Chicago, I enjoyed getting up early and walking each morning to begin my day. Our stay in Duluth was the same. There is an inviting Lakewalk trail along the Lake Superior shoreline that I fell in love with. After my wal

Tammy received a call from Paws and Claws Humane Society  in Rochester one week ago inquiring if we were still interested in a bonded pair of dogs at their shelter. We first became aware of them a week earlier when Rachel sent us the Facebook post embedded below. Tammy filled out an adoption application for them, but there was a fair amount of interest, so we didn't get our hopes up. We were surprised to learn they were still available because we thought they'd been adopted—which they had, but it didn't work out. We jumped at the chance to have a meet-and-greet with them and made arrangements for that the next day. We met them in a quiet room last Tuesday, and it took less than 60 seconds to realize that our home could be the perfect fit for them. Their hard-luck story tugged at our heartstrings—having been found roaming the streets of Rochester together and learning that their owner had moved away and no longer wanted them—leaving them to fend for themselves. Who could do

I participated in the first annual Madden Memorial Golf Tournament at Southern Hills last Monday. Madden, my niece's son and my brother's grandson had just turned 13 when he died suddenly while riding his bike a little over a year ago. The tournament was a success in every regard, and thousands of dollars were raised for scholarships to be awarded to graduating high school students in honor of Madden. I've golfed in my share of golf tournaments, but this one stands out as the best—by far! I mentioned in a previous post that I would make an effort this year (for once) to keep the deer and rabbits from devouring our flowers. I've been using a product called Liquid Fence , which I spray on our flowers weekly or after a hard rain as a deterrent. So far, so good. Spraying our flowers after each rain has been made more difficult this year by the abundant rainfall we've been getting, but that's not a complaint. I'm okay with the rain, but it's been a problem fo

Wednesday night. I was watching TV last night when a memory of a dream I'd had the previous night flashed into my conscience. In my dream, I was with Charlie, telling him how much I love and miss him. It was so real I literally woke up in tears. A few days ago marked six months since his passing . I still miss him dearly. Tammy and I have talked about bringing another pup into our lives, but we're putting those plans on hold. It's still too soon for both of us.  My physical therapist gave me the green light to resume riding last week, as long as I don't push too hard. She mentioned it's okay to lean into a little bit of pain — that's expected, but not to overdo it. I've been riding every other day for two to three hours, and my knees seem fine. I've tested my limits briefly to see how my knees react, but I hesitate to exert too much. I'll reserve that for a few weeks when I try a prolonged harder effort. I was recently playing around with an AI app f